Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux "seems genuinely concerned
about the team's season-ticket sales to date. Enough to
suggest that they don't bode well for the long-range future
of the club," according to Dave Molinari of the PITTSBURGH
POST-GAZETTE. Lemieux: "Long-term, we have to be concerned
a little bit about season tickets. It's not where it should
be for this city and what we have accomplished over the last
10 years and in the history of this franchise." Molinari
adds that the team has sold the "equivalent of about" 9,400
full-season ticket packages, "roughly the same total they
had at the end of last season, and 1,100 shy of their
initial objective" for this season. Lemieux "declined to
speculate on why ticket sales have been slower than
expected, but seemed to suggest that complacency might be a
factor." Lemieux: "Sometimes, people take things for
granted" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 10/12). Also in
Pittsburgh, Bill Modoono writes that Lemieux is "not a
broken man ... but certainly a disappointed one" because of
the team's ticket sales. Penguins COO Tom Rooney: "We're
disappointed. We'll have to sell a lot of tickets at the
gate" (TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 10/12). Lemieux said attendance for
the team's two season-opening games against the Predators in
Tokyo (see THE DAILY, 10/10) "was a little bit low. The
first game there was about 12,000 or 13,000 people. In a
huge building like that [17,500-seat Saitama Super Arena],
it was not a good site. The NHL has to rethink the purpose
of going over there" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 10/12).
KINGS' CROSSROADS? In L.A., Karen Crouse writes that
the NHL "continues to fly below the general public's radar"
in the country's second-largest TV market. Crouse: "Yes,
hockey in L.A. is N.D. (Not Dandy)." Bette Midler's new
sitcom debut "generated more buzz around town than" the
Kings' 2000-01 home debut, both held last night. Tuesday
night, 1,000 tickets remained unsold, but they "must have
been snatched up at the last minute as the game was
announced as a sellout" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/12).
